Our free tour was a mini version of the regular $8 tour, but it was still great, largely because of the tiny little man on that giant organ console: Stan Kann.This organ has to be one of the biggest and most complex in the world. I can't tell you how many pipes it has, or how many stops. I think the Fox website has answers to number questions like that. I just know that it's what I think of when someone says "surround sound." Okay, the fact it plays bells and gongs, well, that really makes me happy, too.

I took these while Mr. Kann played things like Meet me in St. Louis and Climb Every Mountain.

It's really hard to give this stuff any sense of scale. That chandelier is 12 feet in diameter.

After the music, we went backstage to the dressing rooms and gawked at the autographs traveling shows leave behind.

Friday, September 29, 2006

Tonight we start with the festivities 'round the Grand Arts Center. I want to tour the Fabulous Fox, and then maybe catch some of the Voltron movie they're playing outside. No time to catch the punk show at the Creepy Crawl- I'm expected to stick my head in at the SLU Studio Art Faculty Show. There's an opening at Ellen Curlee tonight, too, but I think we'll skip it. Opening are too tight in that shotgun space. It'll probably be open next week for First Friday, anyway.

Saturday starts off with a StudioSTL roundtable in the morning, followed by a (hopefully) leisurely afternoon, the Alison Bechdel reading at Left Bank Books at 7:00, and maybe some City Museum fun after that.

Sunday? After the weekly call to Mom, we're meeting our friend Ann for a walk around Francis Park and its Art in the Park affair, then we're off to another StudioSTL meeting & BBQ. Maybe after that we'll curl up for some quiet time at home. Maybe.

This strip of Manchester is a weird mix. It has gay bars, straight bars, boarded up shopfronts, fantastic restaurants, homes and warehouses all right next to each other. It's exactly what I thought all city neighborhoods were like when I was a kid.